100 Theme Challenge
by Puddycat
Summary: Exactly what it says on the tin; characters and situations will vary, as may ratings and genres. It's being K for now, but I'll match it to the "worst" chapter so it will probably go up at some point. No time-line, varied to fit the prompt.
1. Introduction

I copied these down a few years back; I think originally they were for the musical Cats, but I've sort of drifted away from writing for that fandom so I figured why not bring them over to this one? No idea where exactly I got them from, they've probably been deleted from wherever it was anyway so there's not much point trying to find out. I'm not really trying too hard with these either; they're just to keep me writing and help with blocks on other fics, so they'll probably all be quite short and a bit pathetic, but who cares?

Disclaimer - I'm not Japanese, and my self-portrait is not a really awesome cow. So no, I'm not Arakawa-sensei, but I do borrow her characters for abuse in non-profit products of boredom such as this.

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"Edward..." his mother's voice called softly. "Guess who's come home?"

The small boy grinned widely; his mother had been gone for... Days? Weeks? He wasn't good with time yet, but he knew it was longer than he wanted. It didn't matter now, though; she was home! He waddled into the sitting room, large golden eyes taking in her familiar face and the bundle she held.

"Come and meet your new baby brother."

Baby brother? He didn't want a baby brother! He wanted his mother all to himself; he couldn't share her with some little brother she'd bought for him! What kind of place sold those things, anyway? Surely no-one ever wanted one?

"Don' wanna," he pouted, glaring at the wiggling bundle.

"But he wants to meet you. His name is Alphonse."

"Alv-... Alv-... No! Don' wanna!"

"You can call him Al if you'd like; it can be your special big-brother name for him?"

Edward hesitated; he liked the idea of being a big brother, he just didn't want a sibling.

"Come and see him, at least."

The small blonde boy huffed and dragged his feet, stumbling slightly over the rug but catching himself before he fell. Trisha had stretched and arm out to help him, but he didn't need it.

"He ugwy," Edward sniffed before turning away. He tried to walk off but something grabbed his sleeve; he turned back to see a tiny hand had latched onto his shirt.

"I think he likes you. He knows you're his big brother."

Edward stared down at him in awe for a moment before unclasping the hand and toddling away.

"He still ugwy."

---

I have a thing about young!Ed, he's so cute XD


	2. Love

I got bored. Curse all this spare time... lol (Themes are chapter names, by the way)

Disclaimer - I'm not Japanese, and my self-portrait is not a really awesome cow. So no, I'm not Arakawa-sensei, but I do borrow her characters for abuse in non-profit products of boredom such as this.

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What did it mean to love? Edward wondered silently as he sat atop the roof of the military building, eyes gazing out into the distance. People always spoke of it, but not one of them could explain exactly what it was; all of them gave different responses.

Edward supposed it meant caring about the people close to you, worrying when they were in trouble, but that extended to platonic love, too. He understood that well enough, but he didn't understand romantic love. Everyone around him always asked if he was in love with Winry, but how does one tell? What was it meant to feel like?

Alphonse had said once, before his body was retrieved, that he wanted to fall in love before anyone killed him; it had always puzzled Edward how he would know he was in love, but he hadn't dared to ask and risk spoiling his brother's illusions.

The blonde knew he cared about Winry; they had known each other since before either could remember, so they were incredibly close, and he _did_ think she was beautiful, but... How was he supposed to know if he still loved her platonically, or if it had grown into romantic interest?

He had never before given himself the time to think like this, and he began to realise just how confusing it was.

He heard movement behind him and turned to see the source of all his confusion standing there; Winry.

"Don't you think sitting on the edge like that is a little dangerous?" she asked with a smile, leaning against the wall he was sitting on and staring out to the horizon.

"How did you know I was up here?"

"Mustang told me. I wasn't even looking for you, to be honest; he just said you were up here and I should come see you. So here I am."

A comfortable silence settled between them, until Winry moved to rest her head on the boy's shoulder.

"So what were you thinking about?" she asked softly.

"Just little things," came the equally soft response after a pause.

"You know I'm here if you wanna talk, right?"

"Yeah... I know," Edward smiled slightly as Winry rested completely against him.

From the open access door, Roy Mustang gave a small smirk before silently descending the staircase.

---

Because Roy has the entire world on strings, it wouldn't be right if he didn't matchmake occasionally... [insert evil grin here] So.... What did you think?


	3. Light

This isn't even 200 words long, apologies for the shortness but I couldn't really think of anything for this theme without being really cheesy and cliche. The next one's already written, so I'll upload it next week or something.

Disclaimer - I'm not Japanese, and my self-portrait is not a really awesome cow. So no, I'm not Arakawa-sensei, but I do borrow her characters for abuse in non-profit products of boredom such as this.

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Edward's eyes burnt as the sun's harsh rays bit into them, yet still he refused to turn away; he had been standing there all night, and he still hadn't finished thinking. He wasn't even entirely sure what he had been thinking about – perhaps he just needed time away from the world to sort himself out? He knew everything had been getting on top of him lately, but he couldn't afford to take a proper break despite Mustang's suggestions; if he did that, he wouldn't be able to relax through guilt at not having retrieved his brother's body before holidaying.

No, for now he would just organise his mind – he was tired of all the rising hopes being quashed, tired of constant travel, of not being able to live properly... Tired of not being able to see his brother smile, tired of knowing that the younger boy needed to cry but couldn't.

Tired of holding himself together.

But he couldn't afford to fall apart, no matter how exhausted he felt; his little brother needed him to be strong.

So for now he would pause and breathe for a while, bathed in the rays of the rising sun.

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I didn't really succeed in making it un-cheesy, but that's what you get with a semi-cheesy prompt...


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